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I have noticed somethinginteresting about watches that design are influenced by automobiles more often gimmicky than not. Which strikes me as odd because it seems it’s more so with that style of watch over other styles such as pilot/aviation themed watches, dive watches, etc. The car themed/inspired watches are quite often in your face where you can not help but to notice that it’s design was inspired by a car. Don’t get me wrong, I like unique in your face designs. There are ways though to do this where the watch doesn’t end looking like a kids watch/toy. I have reviewed some automobile themed watches that were not gimmicky, where the design features were subtle. Will the Gavox Roads watch fall into that group or will it be just another gimmicky car themed watch?

The GR comes in 3 different dial colors as you will see in the following pictures throughout the review here. It’s not just a choice of color here either. Each dial color has it’s own unique road that can be found on the caseback. The map style engraved casebacks are definitely cool and have added some road trips to my bucket list.

Michael Happe, the founder of Gavox Watches reports that “the Gavox Roads is the ultimate road trip companion.” I was very curious to find out what he meant by this. When I first glanced at the dial on the GR, it appears to be just your standard chronograph style set up. What I mean by standard is that it has the main hour, minute hands and three small subdials.

Typically I don’t go into great lengths about a watches movement for a number of reasons. One reason it is boring because their isn’t much new to be said that hasn’t been said before. The movement in this watch definitely is important to the dial itself. The Gavox Roads is equipped with a Ronda 5130D which counts seconds via the main second hand. You will notice that the sub dial at the 9/10 o’clock position has two hands, the longer hand has a ‘top speed’ of 30 minutes and and the shorter hand goes up to 12 hours. The small seconds dial at the 3 o’clock position which handles the ‘running’ seconds. That leaves the sub dial at the 6 o’clock position which is responsible for the alarm, which is just fun to play with but is also very useful. The alarm definitely takes me back to simple times before technology complicated my life. Michael has a very easy to follow video on how to operate all the functions on this watch which I will include the link below. The video is about 5 minutes and that’s about how long it will take you to learn to properly use the Roads functions.

The functions operate flawlessly and are extremely easy to recalibrate if needed. As great as the functions are on this watch, it would be useless if the dial wasn’t legible in terms of the hand size/fit, numbers on the sub-dials, date window size/color, ect. Thankfully Michael is not only is a stickler for preciseness of function but he is also a stickler for design layout. The Roads is extremely easy to read both in daylight and night. It is also very legible when it comes to reading the sub-dials. The black dial Roads has a more stealth effect yet it still has that important legibility. The crispy white dial is not only has that clean streamlined appearance but it is probably the most legible of all the dial colors. The blue dial is just pretty but not in a flashy way. On the chapter ring is the tacimeter, which has small print but not too small where legibility is compromised. The blue dial has the most legible tachometer and this is due to the orange numerals that is set against a blue backdrop where the other two versions have a black chapter ring with white numbers.

Gavox always gives you great options when it comes to it’s watches and their “shoes”. The GR is no different, as you can see in the pictures that there are some nice leather straps that have stitching that matches the dial brilliantly. Everything functions with great precision and quality on the Gavox Roads. The bezel is so easy to grip and operates with a nice tight feel but not where it’s difficult to rotate. I really appreciate that the crown is a screw down style instead of the push pull style. In my opinion, push pull style crowns should become obsolete. A screw down crown just offers so much more protection from water, dust, etc. Some comments that I have received on this watch from my social media posts are “it’s a beautifully designed watch, just wish it had an automatic movement.” I get the draw of a mechanical movement, believe I do. If the Gavox Roads had a mechanical movement, that had all the features this watch had, it would put it in a completely different price group. Then the comments would become, “I love the design but damn that is expensive.”

The Gavox Roads is a great watch and it definitely is a great companion piece when on the road/go. I used it to time my treatments at work, used the alarm to remind to get my ass moving on my days off, and even managed to use the tacimeter while taking a mini-road trip. Michael’s passion and love for watches always transcends into his watches and the Gavox Roads is no different. If you are looking for a watch that will definitely assist you on your travels, the Gavox Roads is that watch. In my opinion it’s also a great vacation watch especially if you want that disconnect from your home life. Ditch the phone, the tablet, the laptop. Rely on the watch for your time needs, even in the water you are covered by the 300 feet of WR. Grab the watch, jump in your car, and just enjoy the open road.

Thank you all for reading the review and sharing my obsession of watches.

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I fell in love with watches when I was a small child and I would listen to my grandfathers pocket watch ticking. It's been an obsession ever since. Dive watches are my true love. I've been actively involved in the watch universe for over 15 years, trying to contribute what I can, where I can. Spreading my knowledge , but more importantly learning new things from other WIS. Thanks for looking at my blog. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me. Follow the blog via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TimetoBlog-Watches-473321089483105/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/timetoblog_watches/

Great review of a really great watch. There is so much thought and consideration poured into the design and functionality of the Roads, it really is a very compelling watch, The movement issue is a non-argument, stick a great big Valjoux in this and what do you get? a great big watch of course, which would kinda look, well, you know, clunky – the Roads works again because it is eminently wearable, it looks fabulous too. It is very desirable.